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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28469484">like lightning in a bottle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_swerved/pseuds/sunset_swerved'>sunset_swerved</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Boys Are Dumb, Everybody Except Rose Lives, F/M, Mentioned Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Miscommunication, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Possibly Unrequited Love, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, julie is going through it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:08:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28469484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_swerved/pseuds/sunset_swerved</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Reggie’s cheeks flushed, again, and not for the first time did she wish she had even his name, or anyone else’s, on her skin instead of Luke freaking Patterson.</p>
<p>“Julie, please, just hear me out,” he said. “What name did you get?”</p>
<p>“What does that have to do with anything?” She replied. Julie ripped her wrist out of his grasp and leaned down to pick up her bag. “I have to get to class. Leave me alone.”</p>
<p>He opened his mouth to try and stop her again, but she took off, trying to get as far away from him as she could.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>347</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>like lightning in a bottle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_cabbagessss/gifts">jatp_flynn (my_cabbagessss)</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Merry (late) Christmas, jatp_flynn! I’m your Secret Santa! Sorry it took super long, I hope you like it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I think I can see something.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> is better than the </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span> that I can see,”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Chill, Jules. It’s all coming together I promise.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie Molina sighed as she leaned over her bed, her best friend standing behind her and watching as her soulmate’s name slowly spread across her lower back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A </span>
  <em>
    <span>tramp </span>
  </em>
  <span>stamp, seriously?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s it looking?” Julie asked as she twisted her shirt in her hands, trying to not panic when more than five minutes had passed and Flynn hadn’t said a single thing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh,” was all she got in reply.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh, what?” Julie asked, standing up. She still held the shirt tightly in her hands and realized that it was going to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> awkward to wear crop tops for the foreseeable future.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s… interesting.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Flynn! That’s not reassuring!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” Flynn replied, hesitantly. “Yeah. It’s says Luke Patterson.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t that Julie didn’t like Luke Patterson, it was that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. He was a year older than them and thought he was God’s gift to music in a way that was so earnest, but also made it feel like her bones were serrated and rubbing against each other every time he spoke.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie quickly walked over to her mirror and turned around, twisting to see if what Flynn actually said was true. And there it was, written on the small of her back in the boy’s absolutely abysmal handwriting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Luke Patterson.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I always thought he was joking when he said his name wasn’t Lucas,” Flynn said, as Julie’s faces turned more and more towards horror.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not helping!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Because there was one thing that </span>
  <em>
    <span>everyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> knew about Luke Patterson other than the fact that he lived and breathed music, and it was that he didn’t have a soulmate.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Despite the fact that Luke was a year older than her and in a different grade, they did share three classes together: Composition, Performance, and Musical Literacy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Performance was only held on Fridays and Julie had, for the most part, managed to avoid it since her mother died and she stopped playing music, but Composition and Music Lit were twice a week, Comp on Monday and Wednesday and Music Lit on Tuesday and Thursday.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So when Monday rolled around, Julie kept elbowing Flynn in the side every time she opened her mouth to say anything about Luke or soulmates in general.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Why couldn’t she have gotten someone she didn’t even know instead?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing is ever gonna happen if you don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>talk </span>
  </em>
  <span>about it,” Flynn whispered after Julie gave her a particularly hard shove that drew the attention of half the class (including Luke) to the two of them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> anything to happen!” Julie whispered back. “It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Girls, is there something wrong?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie wanted to sink into the floor as both she and Flynn slowly turned towards Mr. Becker who was staring at them with a stern look on his face. Along with him, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>entire</span>
  </em>
  <span> class was staring at them as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>throw up</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s nothing,” Flynn said quickly, plastering a smile on her face. “Nothing wrong here, Mr. B.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s Mr. Becker, to you,” their teacher said. “Now, since you’re so determined to </span>
  <em>
    <span>interrupt</span>
  </em>
  <span>, why don’t you two go first?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them sighed before standing up, their USB with their project in hand.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>“So girls, what was that about?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie was honestly on the verge of slamming her head into her locker and shutting it on herself - anything to get out of this conversation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Like I said, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Carrie</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Flynn replied, rolling her eyes. “It was nothing.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It didn’t seem like nothing,” the other girl replied, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Besides, wasn’t it Julie’s birthday on Saturday?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Carrie Wilson was something like a friend. They used to be super close when they were kids, but then grew apart and completely </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated</span>
  </em>
  <span> each other when they got to the end of middle school. They didn’t even talk after Julie’s mom died, even though Carrie and her father came to the funeral.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They probably wouldn’t have talked at all unless Flynn’s name hadn’t shown up on the other girl’s collar bone a couple of months ago.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(Flynn’s sixteenth birthday wasn’t for another couple of months, but Julie would be surprised if Carrie’s name wasn’t on her best friend’s skin.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s fine, Carrie,” Julie replied, forcing a smile on her face. “Yes, it was my birthday and yes, I did-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well who is it?” Carrie asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s this?” A smug voice chimed in, inserting itself in their conversation. “Little Julie has a </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmate</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the warmth of Luke Patterson’s hand as he leaned into her. “Most people </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luke scoffed. “Sure, right. Well, Molina, who is it? You’re holding up the hall, right boys?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She and Flynn shared a panicked look as Julie looked around and saw that, yes, a bunch of their classmates were standing around and watching the current conversation. Luke’s three band mates stood off to the side, smiles on their faces. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(Well, Alex looked a little stressed but he </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> looked a little stressed.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why should she tell </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Flynn asked as she picked the boy’s hand off of Julie’s shoulder and knocked it away. Carrie looked at her apologetically and Julie realized that she probably didn’t mean to draw the attention of their entire class.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well I’m just curious,” Luke replied, grinning. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Everyone’s </span>
  </em>
  <span>curious, actually. Most people thought you’d be shouting it from the rooftops.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know them!” Julie finally yelled, turned towards Luke and glaring up at him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He jumped back, startled. His face kind of fell and, she briefly wondered why, before it was back to a smug grin that she wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>slap</span>
  </em>
  <span> off of his stupid, perfect face.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Julie would like to say that she and Luke used to be close, and they did. They grew up down the street from each other and were practically raised at Julie’s mom’s knee with music.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luke picked up the guitar when he was twelve and never looked back, even though his parents wished he had. Julie, however, had followed in her mother’s footsteps and picked the piano. She had started playing when she was six, but it wasn’t until she made friends with Luke that she took it seriously.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them would stay out either in her mom’s studio or the treehouse Luke’s dad had built for him until all hours of the night writing music and singing and playing their instruments until it was two in the morning and her dad or his mom would come out and wrangle them inside. They were </span>
  <em>
    <span>close</span>
  </em>
  <span>, especially before he met his band mates and before she met Flynn.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then he went to high school and started in the music program at Los Feliz and she was stuck in middle school. It was then that Luke decided he was ‘too cool’ to be friends with her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then whenever </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span> got to high school (in the same music program because </span>
  <em>
    <span>screw you</span>
  </em>
  <span> Patterson) her mom died.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And Julie stopped playing music.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t exactly a </span>
  <em>
    <span>conscious</span>
  </em>
  <span> thought, to stop playing, but it was becoming harder and harder to jump back into it the longer she stayed away. Now it was less of the fact that it was something she did with her mom and it </span>
  <em>
    <span>should </span>
  </em>
  <span>be just about her and her mom, to something that everyone was looking at her and waiting and watching to rip into her about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(Yea, she knew that they weren’t going to be mean about and instead be </span>
  <em>
    <span>happy </span>
  </em>
  <span>that she was playing and enjoying music again, but no matter what Flynn or her dad or her Tia or even her </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span> therapist said, she couldn’t.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She </span>
  <em>
    <span>especially</span>
  </em>
  <span> couldn’t whenever Luke would corner her and yell about her giving up her voice and on her passions, which had happened a grand total of three times. Julie had punched him twice (almost breaking his nose) and kneed him in the junk once before she stormed out of the room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>If </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> was going to let her go when he joined a band and made ‘cooler’ friends, he couldn’t have a say in her life.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Even if it meant that she was going to get kicked out of the music program.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But that was a problem for another day.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>That Friday, during her weekly skip of her Performance class, Julie hid in her usual stairwell with her knees up to her chest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span> go in there and play. She could walk in, bursting through the doors and interrupting the person playing (hopefully Luke, the jerk) and sit herself down at the piano and play </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> for the first time in a year.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had already talked to the principal and she had until the end of the month to play, the end of the month to shove aside all of her insecurities and difficulties and feelings and do the </span>
  <em>
    <span>one </span>
  </em>
  <span>thing that she needed to do to stay in the one program she had wanted to be in since sixth grade at the best high school for performing arts on the west coast.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But, instead, she choked back tears as she counted the dots on the nonslip staircases for the 487th time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So this is where you hide.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Startled, Julie looked up to see one of Luke’s band mates staring down at her, sadly. It wasn’t Alex, who she knew from therapy (he was in Dr. Turner’s group session twice a month just like she was) and it wasn’t Bobby, who she knew through Carrie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>No it was Reggie, the one member of Sunset Curve that she had no prior relationship with.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What of it?” Julie asked, trying not to wince as her voice was thick with tears. “You found me. Great. Do you want a reward?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Reggie stepped back, clearly shocked, and she couldn’t find it in her to be upset about it. “Chill, I come in peace. I promise.” With that, he squatted down next to her, three steps lower so his head was now level with her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you here?” She asked. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shouldn’t you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie knew, instantly, when he realized what he said and regretted it and she couldn’t help but snort. She reached up to wipe an escaped tear that she didn’t realize had fallen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she replied. “I should.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why aren’t you?” Reggie asked. “I mean, I know about your mom,” the unspoken ‘who doesn’t’ was there, “but like, Luke always talked about how good you were and how excited he was for you to come here and join the program and shine like-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“-Like the star I am, right?” Julie asked. Reggie gaped while she pushed on. “What would he know about it, anyway? It’s not like we’ve really talked since he came here and ditched me for you guys.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ditched?” Reggie asked. “But he talks about you literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> the time! Bobby asked him last week if he was gonna roll out a red carpet for you to walk to class he was talking about you so much.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was stunned. “So he can talk about me but not talk </span>
  <em>
    <span>to</span>
  </em>
  <span> me?” Julie scoffed again, standing up as the bell started to ring. “Sure. Whatever.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Reggie stood up too, quickly, and reached out and grabbed her wrist gently as she tried to walk away. She had Calculus next and that was upstairs and two hallways over and she needed to book it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Please don’t run,” Reggie said. “Look, I know he can’t keep his mouth shut and he’s obnoxious and doesn’t know when to stop and his breath is </span>
  <em>
    <span>honestly </span>
  </em>
  <span>pretty awful and he has the diet of a four year old and-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are there any positives to him?” Julie asked, her eyebrows raised. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Reggie’s cheeks flushed, again, and not for the first time did she wish she had even his name, or anyone else’s, on her skin instead of Luke freaking Patterson.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Julie, please, just hear me out,” he said. “What name did you get?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What does that have to do with anything?” She replied. Julie ripped her wrist out of his grasp and leaned down to pick up her bag. “I have to get to class. Leave me alone.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He opened his mouth to try and stop her again, but she took off, trying to get as far away from him as she could.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And that wasn’t the end of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The entire rest of the day, the members of Sunset Curve tried to pull her aside and talk and get her to tell them who she got as a soulmate.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alex pulled her aside on the way to lunch and ended up getting so worked up, he talked himself into a panic attack that Julie had to help him through until his boyfriend (Willie, a senior and Alex’s soulmate) found them and helped her talk him down.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby (with Carrie’s help) managed to get her alone in the third floor unisex bathroom (that she went to hide in whenever something reminded her a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>much of her mom) and tried to talk to her about how great Luke was and that, no, he didn’t ditch her when he got to high school, not like that, and tried to even </span>
  <em>
    <span>pay her money</span>
  </em>
  <span> to reveal who her soulmate was (she knew the Wilson’s were rich, but still.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Reggie even tried </span>
  <em>
    <span>again </span>
  </em>
  <span>near the end of the day by pulling her into the janitor’s closet and she kneed him so hard in the groin that he immediately fell to the ground, nearly knocking over an entire shelf of cleaning supplies.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So, safe to say, by the end of the day Julie was Pissed with a capital ‘P’. Even Flynn was giving her a wide berth as she nearly stormed out of the building, ready to drop her backpack and throw herself into a fight if she needed to to get one of the stupid members of stupid Sunset Curve away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then, waiting at the bike rack where he </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> she parked her bike, was Luke </span>
  <em>
    <span>freaking </span>
  </em>
  <span>Patterson.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my </span>
  <em>
    <span>God</span>
  </em>
  <span> do you guys know when to quit?” Julie shrieked. She knew people were looking at her by that point, of course they were. It was just Julie having another mental breakdown on the front lawn of the school, after all. She could see Flynn and Carrie trying to corral the rest of the students away from them. “Seriously! Luke, call off your dogs and leave. Me. Alone!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Each of her last words was punctuated by her finger jamming into Luke’s chest. Instead of backing away, Luke started chuckling and reached up to grab her hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop laughing, Patterson this isn’t funny!” Julie yelled. “I haven’t been able to take a single step today without one of your idiots-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, Reggie and Bobby maybe, but Alex isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> much of an idiot.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“-pulling me aside and being awful and not </span>
  <em>
    <span>leaving me alone </span>
  </em>
  <span>and I just want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>go home</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” She finished, not letting his interruption stop her. Julie could feel the tears start to build again, always ready to fall. “Please just leave me alone.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just tell me one thing, Jules, and I’ll let you go,” Luke said, softly. He stepped forward and she jumped as he reached a hand up, pushing a strand of her hair away from her face. “Please, just tell me who your soulmate is.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This </span>
  <em>
    <span>again</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Julie asked. She tried to pull away but Luke’s grip only tightened. “Why does it matter so much?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s important, I promise,” Luke replied. “I just need a name.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You literally have only talked to me to torment me for </span>
  <em>
    <span>years</span>
  </em>
  <span> and you think you have a right to know?” She asked, indignant. “Yeah, wait. It’s you. Of course you think you do because you think </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>revolves around you but, newsflash Luke! It doesn’t! I don’t owe you </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them had gathered a sizable crowd by that point, watching them and waiting to see what would happen. Julie, however, could only watch as Luke just stared at her as if he was looking into her very soul.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was unnerving and it made her bones itch and all she wanted to do was get away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So that’s what she did. With one last Herculean effort, Julie pulled herself free from Luke Patterson and made her way to her bike before climbing on it and riding away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Away from him and her school and her problems. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Just away.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>As soon as Julie got home, she forewent the front door of her house where her dad and her brother and her aunt were probably waiting to talk to her about her day and went straight to her backyard.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>To her mom’s studio.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She hadn’t been able to step foot in there in over a year, not since her mom started getting worse and couldn’t make it down the stairs. It was easier that way, Julie thought. She slowly weened herself off of needing the studio so by the time that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>go in, it didn’t hurt as bad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The dust spiraled through the air as she pushed the door open and slowly walked in. The studio itself was basically unchanged - there were some half full boxes of when her aunt had tried to go through and pack stuff up and some of the plants were gone, but for the most part it was exactly the same.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Even the chairs on the ceiling.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The grand piano was covered by a giant sheet, to protect it, and Julie slowly walked up to it and held it tightly. She could rip it off. She could! And she could sit at the bench that she grew up on, sitting beside her mother and learning her scales.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She could do it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Any minute.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow it still looks the same.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie </span>
  <em>
    <span>snapped</span>
  </em>
  <span> around, her mouth open and her face twisted, ready to yell as Luke walked into the studio.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He, however, stopped in his tracks and held up his hands as if she were a wild animal that would attack at the slightest movement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>(She thought about it.)</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I come in peace,” he said. Julie waited, a moment, and he took it as a cue to continue speaking. “I’m sorry I haven’t been here, I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you. I know it’s hard-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If you know then why weren’t you?” Julie asked. “If you knew…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I was afraid,” he replied, shrugging. “It had already been so long and, well, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there. I basically ghosted you and left you in the dust.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I called in haunting,” she said, quietly. “You were always there, always around, but not in the way I wanted or needed you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luke slowly started forward, his hands up and ready to defend himself, as he got closer and closer until the two of them were standing toe to toe.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Julie…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you here, Luke?” She asked. Julie tried to take a step back, but the piano was in her way. “Why did you follow me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I wanted to be there for you, Jules. For once,” he replied. He slowly reached out and pushed the same strand of hair he moved before out of her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll get the guys to stop. We’ll leave you alone.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She bit her lip, looking up at him for the first time and staring in his eyes and at the small freckles that dotted over the bridge of his noise and at his frankly </span>
  <em>
    <span>unfairly</span>
  </em>
  <span> long eyelashes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What if I don’t want you to?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She heard Luke inhale, deeply, before his arms came around her in a tight hug. She fell into his chest, her arms coming up and grabbing him as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two stood there for a long moment in silence, just holding each other. Julie knew it would take awhile to get over the feelings of betrayal and loneliness that she had dealt with and fully accept him back, but he was here </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span> and didn’t seem like he was going away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My soulmate doesn’t have one,” she finally said, quietly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luke stilled.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He doesn’t have one and it </span>
  <em>
    <span>sucks </span>
  </em>
  <span>because I’m going to be alone forever,” she said. “My mom is gone, my… my best friend was gone and my soulmate can never-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who is it?” He asked, softly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie sighed. “It’s you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luke pulled back, quickly. His eyes were wide as they traveled up and down her body to see if he could see his name on her skin as if she would walk around without covering it, but obviously finding nothing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie turned around and lifted the back of her shirt, revealing his name. She closed her eyes, tightly, as if to stop the tears from falling but a few got out anyway and rolled down her face as she felt his fingers delicately trace over his own handwriting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was almost intimate, in a way. She was literally baring her soul.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Happy now?” She asked. “Now you know. And I know I’m not your’s because you don’t have one and it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine</span>
  </em>
  <span> honestly, I’ve had a week to get used to it and it sucks </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> much and-“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have you too.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She turned around so quick she almost gave herself whiplash.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But you said you didn’t have one!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She remembered it, clearly, the day after his sixteenth birthday when he had strode into school and firmly told Jessica Wallace (who was always awful to her, but who had a thing for Luke) that he didn’t have a name and would she want to go hang out after school?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie had been in full view and it was then that she realized that whatever friendship she and Luke had was no more.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Without saying anything, Luke pulled his shirt over his head. Her jaw dropped at the sudden exposure of skin and muscles that were suddenly </span>
  <em>
    <span>right there</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but her eyes quickly zeroed in on her careful cursive written over his heart.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I…” Luke started. “It had been so long. I didn’t want… I didn’t want to come back into your life just because I had your name. You might not have gotten mine, and then it wouldn’t have made sense because, Julie, I’ve been in love with you since we were kids and if we weren’t soulmates and, fuck, if you had someone </span>
  <em>
    <span>else’s </span>
  </em>
  <span>name? I think it would have destroyed me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So you let me, and everyone else, believe you had no one?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He laughed. “I never said I was smart.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie looked up at him, smiling, as he anxiously fiddled with his shirt and stared at her with his big, brown eyes that she wanted to drown in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So we’re soulmates,” she said, a small smile on her face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re soulmates,” he replied, a cautious grin slowly overtaking his face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She stepped forward, hesitantly, as he reached out and put his hand on her chin. They stood there, him rubbing her cheek with his thumb and catching her (now) happy tears as they fell before he slowly moved forward and brought their lips together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Julie played the piano that night, for the first time in over a year.</span>
</p>
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